MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a Russian space centre on Wednesday, pictures released by the Kremlin showed, kicking off a meeting where the leaders could seal an arms deal that would defy global sanctions.
Putin claimed that the venue was chosen because Moscow planned to assist North Korea in building satellites when the duo meet at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Vladivostok.
Wearing a dark suit and smiling broadly, Kim enthusiastically shook Putin’s hand, as a video released by the Kremlin showed the two leaders walking around the sprawling space centre afterwards.
“The leader of the DPRK shows great interest in missile technology and they are trying to develop (their presence in) space,” Putin said, referring to North Korea by its official name.
Experts say Russia is likely to seek artillery shells and anti-tank missiles from North Korea, which in return wants advanced satellite and nuclear submarine technology.
“We will talk about all issues, without haste. It’s time,” Putin answered when asked by journalists if military cooperation would be on the agenda.
Despite Putin’s “busy schedule,” Kim expressed gratitude to him for the invitation to visit. He had earlier emphasized that the trip, which was his first since the epidemic, demonstrated North Korea’s “prioritization of the strategic importance” of its relations with Russia.
Kim, who travelled overland to Russia in his bulletproof train, is accompanied by an entourage that suggested a strong military focus for the summit.
While Pyongyang’s supreme leader was out of the country, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, the latest in a series of tests to lift sanctions.
The talks will be attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who visited Pyongyang in July and recently discussed bilateral joint naval exercises, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said, RIA Novosti and TASS reported.
Kim is accompanied by top military officials including Marshal of the Korean People’s Army Pak Jong Chon and Director of the Munitions Industry Department Jo Chun Ryong, North Korean state media said.
The meeting at the spaceport is symbolic, especially since Pyongyang has twice recently failed to put a military spy satellite into orbit, experts said.
Russia is eager to stockpile North Korean artillery shells as Pyongyang seeks help with satellite technology and upgrading its Soviet-era military equipment, Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who heads the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.
“If several North Korean rocket launchers and other artillery shells are provided to Russia in large quantities, it could have a significant impact on the war in Ukraine,” he added.
Russian Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov greeted Kim when he arrived in the country and handed him historic signed photos of Soviet cosmonauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Kozlov’s ministry told TASS.
Russia-North Korea communication is back on track before Covid and dialogue is “actively developing”, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS.
North Korea would “pay a price” if it provided Russia with arms for the situation in Ukraine, the White House warned last week.
